i got up to day to find one of my babys on the floor of its cage, head is all bloody no feathers beak all most pulled off.Mother and father beaks all bloody.Why did this happen i have looked all over the enet for info on budgies doing this and seems i am the first.Help please they have 3 more babys and i'm scared the will do this again.

 

 

PS

 

Baby is still alive but will not last the night.

Firstly how old is the injured chick? I think we need more info, how old, do you have other pairs with chicks,

 

If hen decides she wants to lay a second clutch she may attack the chicks still in nest box. Mostly it's Mum but Dad may join in I'm not sure. If the chicks are around the 2-3 week age AND your sure it's NOT Dad as well, he may try to protect the chicks from Mum, remove Mum to a separate cage and let Dad finish raising the chicks.

 

If on the other hand you think both are involved I'm not sure what you can do. If chicks are feathered up another hen won't accept them at that stage, if they are only tiny and you have another hen with same aged chicks she may take them. Can you add some more info to see if someone can help more?

okay it is only mom and dad in cage plus 4 babys now 3 (chikk died) they are around 7 or 8 weeks old mom is still feeding 2 of them one is eating on its own.looks like it was only mom that was the killer dad seemed to be trying to get her way from the baby,there are no other birds in my house.

The birds will be old enough to fledge, you could remove the mum and allow the dad to finish raising them. The female most likely attacked because she wanted to lay again

well i got up this morning and every thing seemed fine then the mom started to attack a chick so i took the chick out and went to get the othere two chicks in the nest box and found a egg.

 

So when its time for laying a new batch does the mother kill her older chicks ?

my advice is take the hen out.. even if se does have an egg as said above he cock will raise the chicks

when the chicks are eating well by themselves put the chicks into another cage and you an put the hen bird back

if se attacks the chicks again don't breed with her again. I would offer her to a pet shop

If your chicks are 7-8-weeks old they should have fledged by now. If you want a second round,remove the chicks from nest box to the floor of cage, put container of seed on floor with chicks. They should be cracking seed for themselves by now, Dad will still feed them on the floor but by removing them from nest box Mum can lay her next clutch without being harassed by older chicks.. If she still comes out to attack chicks remove them to a kindy cage.You will have to watch to see they are feeding by themselves.

 

It's a good idea to remove bedding from nestbox and add just seed on floor of box with chicks

N.B. WHEN OLDEST CHICK OF CLUTCH IS AROUND 2 WEEK OLD. This means chicks can learn to crack seed before they fledge, at around 4 week of age.

 

 

Just to add, if you let her have a second round, just keep an eye on mum as chicks get to be nearing fledging stage in case she tries the same thing again. She may be okay but better safe than sorry. I'd remove nest box as soon as next round fledge to stop 3rd round.

Edited August 18, 201410 yr by robyn

okay thanks all it is the first time i even hear of them doing this.I have removed the older fledglings to a new cage,they seem to be doing okay i seen them at the seed dish i put in there and seen one of them getting water,

 

PS

 

Two eggs now in nest.

Sounds promising now, just keep an eye on chicks to see they are all eating, the older ones may attempt to feed the younger ones also. Good luck with next clutch as well.

3 eggs

5 eggs now

6 now (there breeding like rabbits)

Congrats! Good luck with them.

o no 7 now

How are your young chicks going did they all fledge fly etc? I've had a clutch on 9 at one stage so it's fairly normal to have big clutch's, depends if all your eggs are fertile. Sometimes you can get d.i.s. I think maybe the eggs dehydrate or something if there are lots of younger chicks in nest. Good luck with them, your numbers are increasing rapidly l.o.l.

my 3 from my first batch are all doing well there flying and they like to sit on my chest and watch TV little rain storm is saying bugger it,and bugger that.so no more BBC for that chick.